


Comet

by Frostberry



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU Where Greg is Rose Quartz, Amethyst and Greg busking to pay for their annual council tax, F/M, Greg is a Gem, Greg's probably a Quartz cause he's pink, Obsidian has a beard cause Greg, Rose is human Greg is a gem, Rose owns a bakery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2020-02-04 10:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18602968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frostberry/pseuds/Frostberry
Summary: AU Where Greg is Rose Quartz. Rose Quartz moves to Beach City to open a Rock n’ Roll boozy bakery with alcoholic treats. She then meets the Crystal Gems, an alien group vowed on protecting the planet. Their leader? Greg Universe.





	1. The Quartz Bakery

**** The only shop in one hundred miles that would take Rose Quartz for little rent was in Beach City. 

Rose knew of the sleepy beachside town; she'd been there before. Vidalia and Barbara lived there; they were her old rock and roll buddies from college before they decided they preferred having boring jobs over creating music and travelling. It wasn't exactly a city hence the name, but more of a beachside town that was completely deserted during the winter. Rose’s dream of opening a rock n’ roll boozy bakery was going to come true. 

***

The Quartz Bakery had been done up with a fresh lick of paint. Fridges were coming in, and Barbara gave Rose some old chairs to use that she found on her mail round. The windowsill was covered in silk pink: fondant with sugar roses covered the corners of the windows, fresh cream filled the buns and jelly topped with icing sugar were sitting on velvet boxes with black bows. Gooey chocolate cakes with mousse roses were covered in periwinkle petals. After 6pm on Fridays she planned to cook alcoholic treats featuring Jack Daniels honey whiskey cupcakes and Baileys custard pastries. 

When she had finished decorating the shop window, it looked more like a Valentines Day cafe than an actual bakery. With Vidalia coming in helped, with toddler Sour Cream at her side. She redid the window display to make it more appealing than the pink and black theme she had going on. 

After a few weeks, people were coming in from around the district, excited to try out her homemade recipes. It was a success - especially the rum cakes, which weren’t even made from cake at all - they were chocolate cookies soaked in rum and cream and then placed in the fridge. 

Rose was excited to be part of the community of Beach City. It was better than Empire City by far. She put the radio on most days while she worked and crafted her treats out of love. Her favourite so far was local act Greg Universe and she could listen to his catchy tunes all day, especially ‘Comet’. When it came on, she would mimic the electric guitar’s notes with her fingers. 

One day, buskers arrived at her doorstep. The little bell chimed as a small purple woman came in. She knew from Vidalia there was several people living in Beach City that weren’t ‘human’ but other than that she didn’t say anything else about them. Rose didn’t ask any further questions about it, because Vidalia would just wave it off and not answer. 

This was obviously one of them. 

"Hey," the little purple woman said, almost barking at Rose. Rose took off her gloves quickly, trying not to gape at this obvious alien, and she turned to say welcome, when she was interrupted, "We're gonna busk outside, bye." 

The door slammed, and Rose hadn't even finished taking her gloves off. 

***

The little pink radio wasn’t working properly a few minutes after the little purple lady left. It was then the same song repeated on the radio but overlapped. She frowned and Vidalia turned it off. "Signal's always been lousy in this part of town," she said. Rose could smell the tropical scent of her nicotine gum. She turned it off by the switch and then Rose looked outside. 

"It must be the act from the radio!" 

The little purple lady - Vidalia called her Amethyst - had brought with her a mini drum set. There was someone with her - a man in a white vest with long brown hair, which Rose didn’t recognise. Their backs were turned to her.

“Yeah, that’s Greg Universe,” said Vidalia, pulling out a chicken pie for a customer. “He and Amethyst and sometimes a few others get together and sing. Not sure if the other two like performing in public… probably not.” 

“They’re singing  _ Comet _ , I love that song,” said Rose. The door opened as the customer left. 

“ _ Fly like a comet… soar like a comet… I’m just a comet.”  _ The one called Greg was singing. Rose put her gloves down, and took her apron off. 

“I’ve gotta meet them. She put her pink apron on the hook behind the drinks fridge, and opened the saloon door to go outside. She opened the door… to find they had disappeared. 

“...Huh?” 

They were nowhere in sight. 

Vidalia laughed. “They must of heard you coming.” 

***

Rose badgered Vidalia on the way home about them. “You are so nonchalant about the fact Beach City has  _ aliens _ ! Aliens that  _ sing!  _ That is amazing. Everyone in Empire City says they don’t exist.” 

“Yeah,” she said, walking slowly so Sour Cream could waddle next to her. He picked up a leaf and threw it, only to have the wind blew it back into his face. “It’s kind of an open thing around here. They’ve been here for a long time, longer than the founders of Beach City. Only two of them like to socialise really. I know they go and protect the world but they are mostly known for their music.” 

“How many others are there? Are they all different colours?” Rose’s imagination went wild with images of aliens from all colours of the rainbow. 

“Well one’s a reddish-purple, the other is white… You don’t really see those ones around much.” Vidalia, Sour Cream and Rose walked up to the garage. Vidalia took out her keys and pulled the roller shutter doors open, which clanged loudly as they rolled to the top. “I do know Amethyst a bit, though.” 

The garage opened up into Vidalia’s art studio. At the moment there were mostly pictures of Rose, or studies of Sour Cream. A dusty portrait of Yellow Tail hung from a nail near the door. She let Sour Cream through the house and then began to rummage through her boxes. “Let me find something for you…” 

Vidalia pulled out some paper, a few stale brushes and some canvases with holes in them before she got to the very bottom. “Ah! Here they are.” 

Rose was blown away by what Vidalia showed her - a collection of paintings of Amethyst. “They’re  _ beautiful _ .” Rose loved art. Besides music, it was one of the most amazing things in the world. Creativity was something that made her feel  _ human.  _

“She used to be my muse,” said Vidalia, looking a bit sad at the portraits. “Haven’t seen her around much for a while. She’s busy protecting the world and making music.” 

Rose looked down at her friend. She pulled the painting out of her hands and put them down on the table next to her. Slowly, she gave her friend a hug. 

“You’ll connect back with her, I promise.” 

“It’s been so long, though.” 

“Well,” said Rose. “Tell me where she lives. I want to speak with her and Greg Universe, anyway.” 

***

She left Vidalia after dinner. They had leftover chicken pies with a spring of rosemary on them. “You know, Rose,” said Vidalia, feeding a piece of chicken to Sour Cream, “Your baked goods are always beautiful, even when they are savoury.” 

“It’s a talent of mine, I suppose,” she said. “Can you give me the address for Amethyst and Greg Universe again?” 

Vidalia decided to write it out, as it was bit too complicated for Rose who had only arrived in Beach City to find. From what Rose gathered, it was the big rock on the West side by the sea that as covered in greenery. “I’ll give them some leftover beer beef pies.” 

“You could,” said Vidalia, “Amethyst will love them.” 

***

Rose wasn’t expected to be ambushed by a thin alien the moment she stepped foot on the property of the aliens. A slim alien had appeared, with pale eyes and pink hair. She reminded Rose of a ballet dancer, and when she walked she lightly floated down with each step. 

"...I'm the new owner of The Quartz Bakery," Rose said to her, the aliens pale eyes distrusting of someone new. "I was blown away by Amethyst and Greg Universe! I never got to give them a tip. I'd love them to perform outside my shop more…” She looked down at the white alien. “...They are here, right?” 

"How did you get in here?" She drew out her sword slowly, and Rose made no movement. She decided not to gasp when the sword came out of her _forehead._ She didn’t seem too happy to be talking to a human, either. "This is private property." 

"There's a gate." Rose was tall enough to climb over the fence easily; she was over six foot tall. 

"Pearl does like her gates.” Another alien, the reddish-purple one Vidalia mentioned, now arrived. She was taller than Rose, with black shades on and wearing a red and blue suit. 

They were standing at what Vidalia had called ‘The Temple’ on her little note she had given Rose. It was a large cave covered by a statue of a woman with a beard and six eyes. The bigger alien smiled, but it was only for a quick second. “I’m Garnet. This is Pearl,” she nodded at the white alien. 

_ Of course they were named after gemstones _ … Rose thought.  _ Not sure what type of gemstone a ‘Greg’ is, though.  _

“I’m here to talk to Amethyst and Greg Universe. Are they in?” 

“They’re somewhere,” said Garnet. “They’ll turn up. We better let her in to talk to them.” She looked at Pearl, who blushed and turned away. 

“There’s a  _ gate  _ here for a reason.” She muttered, putting her sword away back into her forehead, which now Rose knew was an actual pearl. 

A bright light appeared somewhere in the cave. It wasn’t like a light being flicked on - it was brighter than that. More like a bolt of lightning. Pearl turned swiftly on her heels and stalked back up to the cave. Rose grinned awkwardly at Garnet, who made no attempt to smile back. 

***

They were all feminine and beautiful, except for the one next to Amethyst - long wavy brown hair, stubble, wearing the same clothes as this afternoon. He was holding a beer can, and tossed it aside to Amethyst, who promptly ate it. 

"We are the Crystal Gems - Greg pulled his guitar out of the - Rose wasn’t sure what it was - the gemstone? and pointed it at Rose. "We'll always save the day. And if we won't, we'll always find a way. Who are you, beautiful woman?” 

"I’m Rose Quartz… I run the bakery you busked at this afternoon." 

"You don't look like a Quartz," Pearl pointed out. Staring up at this tall woman, she blushed lightly and spoke again. "How did you get through? Where's your gem?" 

“What gem? What do you mean?” 

Pearl pointed at her forehead. “We all have gems… unless you really  _ are  _ a human.” She turned to Greg. “You know this human?” 

“Well, not really…” 

“She’s from the bakery we played outside this afternoon!” said Amethyst. “Nice to meet you.” She grinned. 

“I just wanted to say I was really blown away by the performance today,” said Rose. “I couldn’t help myself, I had to give you a tip.” 

“No one can ignore the Universe,” said Greg. He smiled at Rose, but his eyes didn’t quite catch hers. Rose rummaged in the pockets of her pink dress. 

“Here! Here’s the tip from today. Please come back to my bakery and play.” 

“You know what,” said Greg, looking up and smiling. “I think I will.” 


	2. Gramethyst

Rose came early into the bakery to start on an order for a nightclub - Jagermeister cupcakes with a red bull frosting. They wanted five hundred, and so her fridge for putting cakes in before icing them was full. She  then had to start the frosting all over again when she realised she’d accidentally brought sugar free red bull. 

“Vidalia, can you take these back to the store and swap them over?” She poked her head around the door to the front counter. “I’ve got the receipt.” 

Vidalia picked up a can. “Jesus, how many did you buy?” 

“I’ve still got the shopping trolley.” Vidalia fetched the trolley which was in the corner of the tiny kitchen and began stacking the unopened cans, soon headed out the front door. At least Rose didn’t screw up too many cakes, so it wasn’t too much of a loss of money. She drank the rest of one of the Red Bull cans and put it in the recycling bin under the counter. The bell dinged - 

Rose went as red as her namesake. Greg Universe and Amethyst had walked in. “Hey hey hey! We’re gonna busk outside, k?” Amethyst said. “We got lots of money yesterday.” 

“Of course,” said Rose. Amethyst sniffed the air while Greg went back out to set up the drums for her outside. 

“I can’t believe you tipped us twenty dollars,” the purple little alien babbled on, eyeing the warm chocolate crepe cake by the display unit. “That’s the most we’ve ever been tipped! Greg won’t stop talking about it, y’know.” 

Rose laughed, forgetting about the frosting fiasco for a moment. “Believe me, it was worth twenty dollars. Which songs will you be playing today?” 

“Hmm,” Amethyst scratched her chin. “We’re trying out ‘Gramethyst’ and ‘You Drive a Van into my Heart’ today. We’ll do ‘Comet’ again. Everyone likes that one. Except Pearl. But no one cares about that because she doesn’t like anything.” She went back outside, greeting Vidalia at the door as she can in, shopping bags full of Red Bull cans. 

The morning rush came through for tea with whisky, and Rose busied herself slathering jam and cream onto scones for them as Vidalia busied herself with the cupcakes. They played a nice, smooth ballad for their first song. The businessmen coming into the bakery put a few cents into the guitar case; the spare change from his $6.95 brunch. Once the morning rush was over, Rose could see Amethyst and Greg outside counting coins and smiling. 

Rose couldn’t afford to give them another twenty, so she put the chocolate crepe slice on a plate for them. “Here.” 

Greg went a deep shade of red, pinker than he already was. “Oh -  _ thank you _ .” He took a fork and slowly ate it. He swallowed. “I love human food.” He even ate the rose petal on top - chewing and trying to figure out how Rose managed to make such a delicate sugar flower. 

But then gave the plate to Amethyst who swallowed it whole. 

“...” Rose opened her mouth but nothing came out. “That was… going to be washed, Amethyst.” 

“Wait - was it?” Greg looked confused. “I always give Amethyst the rest of everything.” 

“But it’s a china plate… those aren’t edible…” 

Amethyst burped, and out came the plate from her mouth. “Look,” she said, handing it back to a bewildered Rose. “It’s all sparkling clean now.” 

“She’s like a dishwasher,” Greg supplied. “While you are here - um, Rose - do you want to listen to Gramethyst?” 

Rose clapped her hands together. “Of course!” 

“Before we start,” said Amethyst, “We fuse.” 

“What?” 

Greg thrummed the guitar several times, while Amethyst danced around him, bopping along the way. There was a flash of light as they both met, and - 

“Nice to meet you,” a deep voice came out from the light as it settled. “I’m Gramethyst.” 

Rose was now looking at  _ one  _ person now, who looked like  _ both  _ Amethyst and Greg - they had Amethyst’s face, with two sets of eyes - their skin was now smoky, wavy purple hair long as Greg’s, now a lilacy-brown. No beard in sight. There was now two gems vertical to each other in their chest; a purple and a pink one. 

Besides  _ two  _ sets of eyes was  _ two  _ sets of arms. Rose nearly dropped the plate as Gramethyst started to sing - they didn’t sound anything like either one of them, but were attracting a crowd as they were nearly eight feet all. 

Rose didn’t know the song, and the crowd  _ oohed  _ and  _ ahhed  _ and clapped along. Gramethyst was now floating in the air about a foot off the ground as they sang. 

“Gramethyst, what are you doing!?” 

There was a flash of light again, and as the song ended they split back into their respective gems. They bounced away and looked a bit guilty. Pearl had now appeared, with a sunburned man next to her in a tie and suit. Garnet was nowhere to be found. 

“Pearl, buzz off,” Amethyst snapped, grabbing her drumsticks, and sitting back down on the drums. “We’re making money here.” 

Pearl marched up to her and took the drumsticks away. The man in the suit coughed. 

“Mayor Dewey, what are you doing here?” asked Greg. Rose didn’t realise till now that this was the  _ mayor  _ of Beach City. 

He coughed again. “Gems. Your council tax is now  _ three weeks  _ overdue.” 

“See!” Pearl said. “He came around this morning.  _ Through the gate _ _!_ ” 

“So?” 

Rose didn’t know if she should be listening - after all, it wasn’t her business. Nobody was coming into the bakery. When they saw Pearl and the Mayor approached, most of the people scattered. She leaned on the doorway, listening in. 

“Your council tax bill is still six thousand dollars,” said Mayor Dewey. “I’m not giving anymore discounts to that. You have a large amount of land on the west side of Beach City. In fact, your land is bigger than the actual Beach City perimeter.” 

“We’ve been here longer than you’ve been alive,” said Pearl.  _ She didn’t sound too eager to be talking to a mere human _ , Rose thought. Pearl crossed her arms.  “It isn’t fair.” 

“Neither is taxes, but we still have to deal with it. How much can you pay today?” 

Greg used his toe to move the guitar case forward. “This and the last few weeks, we’ve made three hundred dollars.” 

“I can take that now, but you still owe us five thousand seven hundred dollars.” The mayor took all the cash, and put it in a bag. “Look, gems, I’m not a villain,” he said, sounding a little less uptight. Rose almost felt sorry for him for demanding money - “I’m doing what I can for this town. You have the rest of the week to pay the remaining amount.” 

Mayor Dewey left, bag full of coins jingling away. 

Rose was astounded. Six thousand dollars was a lot of money. 

“Fucking great,” said Amethyst, kicking her drum kit. “We are totally -  _ totally  _ screwed.” 


End file.
